DIY Disaster; Or, Our New Deck

We got a lot of snow last winter. We get a lot of snow every winter, in fact. But, last year was exceptional. If I remember correctly, we had over 80 inches of total snowfall. Most of it blows around and drifts, so it isn’t all piled up, but, it was still a lot of snow. And, a lot of snow is heavy. The deck on our house was built before we bought the house, so it was probably 10 years old, or older. Late one evening, just before spring, we heard a loud cracking noise come from outside. I went outside to see if I could find the where the sound came from, hoping it wasn’t a big tree branch (or a whole tree for that matter), to find that part of the deck had sunk about 3 inches below where it was before. It doesn’t take a construction genius to figure out that that is a bad thing.

With snow on the deck, it was hard to diagnose exactly what the issue was, so we waited until spring had come and the thaw had gone. I pulled the first board off of the deck, and found that the sill plate (the board that attaches to the house and supported an entire side of the deck) had given way. The weight of the snow, combined with the age of the deck and mother nature’s toll on the materials had caused it to break apart in several places. It wasn’t really safe to use anymore, so we decided to replace the board and all of the decking, leaving the support posts and railing. We were hoping that by leaving the support posts and railing, we’d save some money on the project. And, that would have likely been true. After I had removed all the decking, here’s what we were left with.

With it torn down to this degree, we were ready to do a little clean up, and start on replacing the decking. So, I got my hammer, and started pulling nails out of the posts and railing. One of the first nails I attempted to pull was a stubborn one. Instead of coming out of the wood, the entire post it was in came up off the ground by about 5 inches. Oh, boy. I went around and tested a few of the other posts, and sure enough, almost all of them were rotted through at the ground level. My affordable deck repair had suddenly become a not-as-affordable deck replacement.

When it was just a deck repair, we had planned on spending about $700 on materials to fix the deck. When it was all said and done, we spent over $1200 to replace the deck. Now, had we had a contractor come and do the work, it would have easily cost us twice that, so I won’t complain too much about the cost. But, when you’re expecting one price, and then end up spending twice that price, it’s a bit of a shock to the system. At the time, we had the money, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Shortly after we started the deck project, we decided to sell the house, so it was going to be a big bonus for selling the house. Instead of the old rickety deck, we’d have a nice new deck as a selling point. (P.S. attempting to build a new deck while also trying to prepare your house for sale is not the best idea. Just saying. ) Then, I quit my job. And we took the house off the market. So, we get to use the deck ourselves. Of course, we could use the money we spent on the deck, now, but there’s nothing we can do about that.

I didn’t keep track of exactly how long it took, but overall, I think it came in at about 4 weeks of nearly every night after work and weekend work to get it finished. When it was all said and done, this is what we ended up with.

Note: I realized when planning this post that I hadn’t taken a picture of the finished deck, so I took one, last week.

I think it turned out really well. It’s way more solid feeling than the old deck, and since we redid the whole thing, we got to stain it, rather than paint it that “fun” redwood color that the old deck was. One of the key takeaways here is that while DIY can often save you money, the projects that you take on can sometimes be more way more than you intended to do. Had we hired a professional to do the work, it would have likely cost us way more. Replacing the decking is a pretty easy task that most DIY’ers should be able to tackle, but building an entire deck is a bit more complicated. Several times, I found myself scratching my head, trying to figure out what step I needed to do next. And, I’ve built a deck before! Someone with less experience and know-how might have easily found themselves in a pickle and had to hire a contractor to come in and finish up. It could easily turn into a DIY disaster that costs way more than anticipated. And, if you’ve only got so much budget to go around, like most of us do, even a little bit more can put a crunch on your finances.

Be sure you do as much analysis as you can on the project, and budget for unforeseen issues, before you tackle any major DIY project. Also, it’s better to have it done right, than have it done cheaply, so if you get in over your head, find a professional to help you. Many will gladly charge a consulting fee to come and tell you what you need to do next. Find one that will, or hire one to finish the job so that it’s done right.

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About Shane

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way, I've discovered the Yakezie group, and many other blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on Twitter , Google+, and Facebook

The deck looks spectacular! Story kind of reminds me of a show on HGTV called Weekend Warriors, where people would take on projects on their own and usually take much longer and cost much more than expected.

Living in a condo, I don’t have the need to do many big projects, but the little things I like to do myself just to keep busy and I like the sense of accomplishment that comes along with it. The last DIY job I did was a custom walk-in closet, which was done pretty quickly although it certainly doesn’t look anything like a professional job, but I’m the only one who sees it Eric J. Nisall – DollarVersity recently posted..The Truth About Private Mortgage Insurance & How To Cancel It

Great point shane, but you left off the fact that you probably take 7124 trips to the hardware store too. I like the new deck as well!Jeff @ Sustainable Life Blog recently posted..Why Saying No is Good Sometimes

@Eric Yes! It’s just like that show. Obviously, not more than I could do, but way more than I planned to do. One thing I’ve learned about the perceived professionality of a finished project is that it never looks professional to the one doing the work.

@jeff True. I did make a lot of trips to the hardware/lumber store. Maybe only 7123 though…

The deck looks awesome. Great job. We finished expanding our patio this fall. It finally looks good. Such a great reward for all of the hard work.
Our project took two summers instead of the planned one. We got busy and ran out of time with the weather.Miss T @ Prairie EcoThrifter recently posted..Saving Money by Taking Your Own Lunches to Work

That’s a handsome desk Shane, and an sweet grill. Looks like we’re going to get less snow this year too, that’s always a bonus.

We’ve been renovating this house since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago, and every single project costs more and takes longer than we budget for to complete. House is looking now, but the value just keeps dropping!!!Hunter – Financially Consumed recently posted..Know Before You Owe – Credit Cards

@emily I’d love to have that much acreage to play around on. So much you can do with that much space!

@hunter Thanks! The grill was our Christmas present to ourselves last year. On clearance after the season was over, for about $160! One thing about where we live, the market has been pretty stable. Not sure that we’ve gained anything with the renovations we’ve done, but it hasn’t gone down either.

The deck looks great!
DIY projects, for me, require nerves of steel and some serious endurance, though. Working afternoons and weekends require a lot of sacrifice and risk of your DIY skill not being up to scratch.
I prefer to find someone through my network of friends that knows someone and then I try to negotiate.Kevin Mzansi recently posted..What are shares?

One diy project that I probably will never take on by myself again is drywalling. I will try anything once or twice but drywalling my new bedroom was just a major pain in the butt. I would only do it again if I had a bunch of help from friends or family or if feeling especially courageous… because it was NOT fun. I don’t think I’ve had any massive disasters so far… I’m thinking the bathroom will probably end up being a project that goes way over budget and will be frought with hiccups, we’ll see when I get there :p

Woah.. you’re quite handy! No way I could have done that. My biggest disaster wasn’t a DIY but a deck planning one. Mid construction of your deck I wanted to add 200 more square feet. This cost me about 5k to alter my plans mid construction YFS recently posted..Is Divorce Good For The Economy?

Your new deck looks great! We bought a fixer-upper and spend almost every weekend doing DIY projects — fixing the deck, installing new doors and windows, painting the exterior of the house. It’s a ton of work — it’s like having a second job — but its also satisfying.Paula @ Afford Anything recently posted..Be Frugal With Your Time, Not Your Money

[…] A big ‘ol DIY welcome to the listeners of “The Down and Dirty” with Frank Fontana. If you want to read a bit more about the deck project that we spoke about today on the show, you can see it here: DIY Disaster, Or, Our New Deck. […]

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